BENGALURU: India shares settled lower for a fourth straight session on Monday as investors pulled back from riskier assets after comments from the Kremlin partially dampened hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine standoff.

The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.4% to 17,206.65, while the S&P BSE Sensex settled down 0.26% at 57,683.59.

The blue-chip indexes had turned positive briefly during the choppy trading session as banks climbed. Nifty’s small-cap index slid 2.8% and mid-cap index fell 0.8%.

Both benchmark indexes are down nearly 1% so far this month as tensions surrounding Ukraine and the possibility of monetary tightening by the U.S Federal Reserve weighed on investor sentiment.

“Any developments surrounding the Russia-Ukraine crisis will remain at the forefront of investor focus, until there is further clarity on the situation, negative moves will continue to dominate domestic markets,” said Anita Gandhi.